On The Run
by Leo-Ressa
Summary: Vampire Hunter D: Volume 3: Demon Deathchase Fanfic. Spoilers. What if Borgoff had been stopped from shooting that arrow? This mainly tells what happens with Leila and with Charlotte and Mayerling and their children. Not finished!
1. CM: On The Run

AN: Warning, this fanfic contains spoilers for the third Vampire Hunter D book, which _Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust_ is based on, but is not the same. So if you're reading this only having watched the movie, be warned.

Disclaimer: _Vampire Hunter D_ is the property of Hideyuki Kikuchi.

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_Never show yourselves before mankind again_. The sentence ran through the vampire's mind yet again, and he stopped what he was doing, staring up at the stars through the dilapidated, empty house.

"Mayerling. Is everything alright?" asked his beautiful bride.

He turned to her, smiling at the thought of her being with her, that at least they were together with all they had been through.

"Yes, darling. I'm fine." She was unconvinced though, so he added, "I was just thinking about that last command again."

She nodded. "I know. I was thinking about it too. How if he hadn't said it, we wouldn't be together."

He smiled at her. Yes, it had saved them. He hugged her, and she laid her head against his chest. "Yes, love. And it is to him our thanks must go that we are both still alive. Though are you still sure you wouldn't rather go to your aunt's village."

The girl shook her head, gazing up at him as she caught his hand and kissed it. "I love you, my Mayerling. Why would I ever want to be separated from you?"

Mayerling smiled at kissed her forehead. "I love you too. Have you gotten the food you need?"

The girl nodded.

"Then we should go. Before the people of this village realize we're here."

She closed her eyes, and he wondered if the strain of always having to be on the run wasn't more of a hardship for her than her human body could bear.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, my dearest." She smiled up at him then turned toward the door. "We should go."


	2. L: Long Awaited Meetings

Leila Marcus, the only one of her famed family left, wasn't new to the world of romance. However, in most cases, when the men found out her name, they turned a cold shoulder in fear. Leila didn't blame them. Her brothers and she had been the best Hunters in all the world… other than D. But with her brothers gone in the mission to kill the vampire Mayerling, she couldn't hunt Vampires solo. It would be insane to think she could. Only dhampirs ever hunted solo. So she needed a new life, and she knew where she could find it. Out of all the men who had asked her to marry them, there was one man who had been willing to marry her after he found out her name. She would see if he still wanted her.

Without her beloved battle-car or her brothers' bus, she did the only thing she could: she walked, and when she hit a town, she was able to get room and board in an inn with her well-known status. The following morning, she was able to get someone to take her as far as Village, a few villages over from the man's. From there, she walked.

She had been caught up in the life of a Vampire Hunter for so long, that she had forgotten what it was like to meander along the road between the villages and look around. Though it was far from safe even during the daytime, she had hunted Vampires, and the creatures that were out during the day went with the living. She wondered what she would do if he refused and decided she would come to that if it happened.

By late afternoon, with a stop for a bath in a stream that crossed the road, she was safely checked into the next inn.

After two more days of this, she was in the town where the man lived. Funny the tricks memory plays, but she could almost have sworn that she and her brothers came through this town only a few days before, when it had really been nearly ten years. The houses still looked the same, though the people were older. People she had last seen as children were now adults.

"Oh my-! It's Miss Leila!" whispered a woman's voice, and Leila found herself staring into the eyes of the man's sister.

"Hello. Would you happen to know where your brother is?" Leila found herself asking.

"Yes. Come this way." The child the woman was holding made a grab for Leila's hair, and Leila caught its little finger. The woman laughed and took the child's arm to wave its hand. "Say hello, little Charles."

"Heyyo!" said Charles.

"Oh. He's adorable." Leila smiled.

"You can hold him, if you like," the woman held him out.

Leila shook her head. "I got hurt on my most recent mission. I'm done with that life now."

The woman looked over in shock. "What do your brothers think-? I'm sorry for bringing them up, but you are the sister of the famous Marcus brothers."

Leila turned away, remembering her embarrassment the last time she had come through this town when the woman and her brother had found out who she was. How little it mattered now. "My brothers died."

"Oh…" The woman turned away. "I'm sorry to hear that. Would you like to stay with us until you decide what you're going to do?"

"If it isn't an inconvenience."

The woman smiled. "No inconvenience at all. I own an inn, and we'd be happy to have you. Jeremy always said to keep a room open for you."

Leila smiled. "Thanks."

"Beth!" yelled a voice from across the street.

"Leila, I'd like you to meet my husband, Ian Holsmer," the woman introduced. "Ian, this is Leila."

"The one Jeremy has a crush on? _The_ _Leila Marcus_?"

Leila ducked her head.

"Her brothers died. She's going to be living with us for a while," Beth said.

Ian nodded. "Welcome to our home. Now that the formalities are over, I think someone will be wanting to know you're here." He turned towards the house and yelled, "Jeremy! Guess who's here?"

The man who stuck his head out of the house had aged nine years, but when he saw her, the years melted off in a second. "Leila?" he asked.

"Jeremy." She found herself smiling.


	3. CM: Kisses

A/N: This chapter is the one responsible for the rating. If you are underage, don't say I didn't warn you. If you don't like it, this chapter is the only reason it's rated M so just skip this chapter.

A/N #2: Please R&R: Don't be nice; just be honest.

* * *

Mayerling had found out his bride's name was Charlotte and, throughout their travels, said it constantly. She always smiled at him as he did this, which made him do it more and more. Her smiles were what he lived for now, so much so that if she had asked him to stop drinking blood out of the stocked fridge in their carriage, he would have if only to see the smile restored to her face. So the more she smiled, even if he knew her smiles were ones of amused love at his saying her name so often, the more he said it. 

Finally, one day, she kissed him. The action so startled him that he held her back until he could get his bearings, wondering if she knew what she was doing. It was not often that a vampire and a human fell in love as they now were. It was even rarer that they kissed as passionately as Charlotte had just kissed him. He knew what she wanted of him and this was extremely rare between human and vampire. He had never done it with a human before. But then she had never done it at all.

Slowly, cautiously, he tugged her back to sit on his lap and returned the kiss. She turned to straddle him and returned his passionate kisses. He felt his fangs lengthen and his member stand up and moaned, hugging her against him and sliding his hands up inside her dress, one around the small of her back, the other moving up to undo her corset. She moaned too, leaning against his body to grant him better access to the garment.

"Are you sure you want this, Charlotte?" he asked once the corset was off.

"Yes, Mayerling," she answered, kissing his hand and unbuttoning his coat at the same time. When her hand danced across his skin, he picked her up, easing her down into his fine coffin, holding her light form with the fingertips of one hand while unlacing her dress with his other. By the time he had unlaced her dress, she had him miraculously out of his shirt. He laughed, eyes dancing with mischief as he kissed her again then let a soft, possessive growl escape his lips. He was pleased to see that his growl this time did not scare her the same way it had done the last time he had attempted to joke with her. Instead, her laughed told him she found it funny, too.

He let his fingers explore her bank, while his lips explored her neckline. She did not scream as she had the last time his lip had been there – he felt his pulse speed just remembering it – nor did she even flinch; that is, until his lip found the sensual point just under her ear. She shivered then, though her smile informed him she liked it, and put her arms around his neck to pull him close. He nibbled her neck with his lips, and she gasped, pulling him onto her and seeking his own lips with hers.

They fell to kissing each other, and she began to nibble-kiss his neck and ears. He found it incredible and was soon trembling himself. When he was sure he could bear it no longer, her hands began dancing through his hair. He moaned, hunger warring with sexual desire so strongly that he must satisfy one or the other. He pulled himself away to shed his pants.

"My love?" she asked, as he unbuttoned them.

He reached back across to pet her hair. "My Charlotte; I am here." He pulled his legs out one at a time so he could maintain contact with her. Then, he climbed back into his coffin and pulled her towards him. "Are you nervous?" he asked, remembering that humans sometimes were.

"No, Mayerling," was her answer. She put her hand behind his head and peered at him again to prove it. Her wide eyes made him smile as he bent to kiss her shoulder. She wrapped a leg around his back, and he laid her back into the coffin…

Afterwards, he gazed into the pre-dawn light as she slept against his chest. "Charlotte," he whispered, still playing with her hair. "Charlotte." He bent to kiss her forehead, still holding her close in her shocking human fragility. "Charlotte, my sweet, I love you."

In her sleep, she traced the outline of his face, smiling.


	4. L: Storyteller

They picked up right where fate had driven them apart. Ian and Beth were only too happy to accommodate Leila, and Beth's brother couldn't stay away. By the end of the first week, Leila was helping Beth run the inn bar or watch Charles, so that she didn't need to feel bad about not being able to pay for her room (which true to Beth's words was given freely), and Jeremy came in every day after work to sit at the bar and talk with Leila.

She soon found out tales of the Hunter life fascinated the man and asked for them daily. At first, Leila was unsure what to do about this. She had never told stories of the hunt to anyone before, and for her, they were a part of life that one did not tell, even if people in the towns the Marcus clan happened upon had wanted to hear them. Most people did not. The only times anyone had to think about Vampire Hunters was if someone in their village got attacked. Then, they were grateful to see the Hunters come, but they were even happier to see them go. When they weren't there, there wasn't a constant reminder of why they were needed. People were wary, for the most part. Nobody asked about the life, as if hoping that by their ignorance they could be rid of the vampire and the vampire hunter sooner.

Furthermore, for Leila the stories of her life were a brutality she kept closed off from her mind. They were too shocking even for her, and not because of the vampires. She'd watched as a brother – usually Nolt – dealt with any competition. Many were dhampirs, and her brothers loved the job as much as she had. Sometimes, however, as with the dhampir vampire hunters, her brothers loved the job even more than she felt comfortable watching. The word dhampir brought back her memories of D, and she was glad he had not suffered the same fate. The thought of her brothers being able to harm him would have made her laugh, if it hadn't filled her with nausea after having seen them play with some many other dhampirs. The human competition they didn't play with, but granted a swift death. Leila still locked these memories up within her mind.

Jeremy insisted though, even after Leila explained to him that she couldn't tell him anything. Finally, one afternoon after Jeremy had finished work and had sat down at the bar and asked her again to tell him the stories, she surprised both of them by complying.

What came out first were the stories of the non-Nobility horrors they had encountered on the trail. This category was wide. Fire ants that melted the flesh off of the bone were one reason to keep wary, and the storm traps set by vampires who had since died and left their lightning traps on automatic were another. Then there were plants with poisonous darts, trees with perfume somnambulates, and grass that swallowed unsuspecting passersby.

Her stories of this kind lasted a month and could have lasted far longer. However, then he asked about that forbidden topic of the vampires she and her brothers had hunted. By this point, she was able to start talking about them. The first stories were about the "normal" hunts. A family had found a daughter lying under the hypnotic death-sleep with those two tell-tale marks on her neck, and had hired the Marcus clan to hunt down the vampire. That kind of normal, low-risk hunt usually involved hunting down one of the lower vampires, barely powerful enough to be called Nobility, and involved the Marcus clan walking away the heroes of the day.

Jeremy wasn't the only one who listened. At first, Beth was the only other one. However, soon kids came into the bar to hear the stories, gasping in wonder at the tales Leila told with perfect sincerity. Jeremy smiled at her with new appreciation, too. She didn't embellish the telling at all, nor hide anything from young ears that had occurred during the "normal" hunts, and that made her crowd grow that much faster, until it included adults, too, who bought drinks after work and gave Beth and Ian more business.

Soon, she got to talking about more daring hunts, where villager, especially children, would go missing, and the mayor would hire the Marcus clan and possibly a few others – depending on how big the town or how important the children – and they would have to chase down the Nobility. In these tellings, she got to talking about her beloved battle-car and her family's bus, both of which she'd had to fix so many times she could do it in her sleep. Through this, she got to talking about the things that could wreck a battle car and bus that were out there. The little ones loved these stories and listened with baited breath as she told of sand mantas and quicksand, of the freaks of the Nobility's experimentation and of the occurrences of energy sucking air masses.

But at night, after the little ones left, she found herself telling Jeremy darker stories once they were alone. The memories of her brothers came out unbidden one night, and she could stop herself from telling all about them. She started with the way they treated dhampirs, the part-breed children of Nobility and – usually – humanity. Kyle was the worst, she had confided: he took actual joy from tying a dhampir up out in the middle of a desert, using his for target practice then leaving him there to fall into heat exhaustion. Borgoff just liked giving the competition back one of his ears. Nolt usually just lured them into water then gave them the stake. Grove had never participated, though he, as all of them, even her, maintained that it had to be done.

Grove had always been her favorite brother. She recalled the weak and quiet yet funny boy for Jeremy, and her family and days working beside her father as a brilliant child-mechanic, before a vampire took her mother then her father when he went after the vampire.

One thing was certain in these stories, however: she never mention the last hunt and she never mentioned D.


	5. L: Love Letters

Sorry this took such a long time: I couldn't get near a computer with internet for two weeks.

* * *

The first love letter came one wintry morning, slipped into her news cubby-hole behind the bar.

She pulled it out, unsure what it was at first. As she unfolded it, however, she realized what it had to be and blushed. The paper was more elegant than she had seen in quite some time – it must have come from the Capital, as there wasn't any paper of such quality in any of the Frontier towns she had stopped in – though the writing inside was still the scrawl she had come to recognize as Jeremy's.

She read it, glad that there was no poetry in it, only a simple "Dear Leila," followed by a quick compliment of her story-telling ability and her strength at having gone through the stories, leading up to a "With Affection, Jeremy". Nevertheless, she felt a strange giddy lightness for the rest of the day and even began to hum a battle song her brothers used to sing when the vampire could be easily dispatched towards evening, when she knew Jeremy would finish his work at the butcher shop.

She was still humming it when Jeremy walked in later that night, so then she spent the evening describing the songs – most of them as raunchy as her brother Kyle could make them.

The following week, a second letter came, written on the same paper. This one contained a compliment of her physical form and ended with "With Warmest Admiration".

She decided to keep her love notes under her pillow, so that at night, when she missed her brothers – serious and selfless Grovek; tall, bossy Borgoff, strong Nolt and even Kyle – and felt she should continue there legacy, finding other Hunters to team up with, she had something to tell her she was in the right place.

More letters came, and she added these to the growing pile beneath her pillow. The first ones were already crumpled with how much she had read them, in spite of how much she had tried to keep them tidy. She couldn't stop reading them though: she wanted to banish the feeling that she shouldn't stay in one place too long or risk not being able to support herself. More than the money with which she was now paying rent at the inn, the letters helped her banish that idea for good.

One evening, Jeremy came in from a blustery snowstorm, beaming from ear to ear. After taking off his coat, he went down on one knee in front of her, causing her to blush with warm delight. She may have been surprised, but everyone else had known for a few days that today was the day. Taking her hand in his, he asked, "My dearest, Leila, will you marry me?"

She nodded, tears of happiness in her eyes. "I will."


	6. L: A New Career

Late one afternoon before the spring day Leila and Jeremy had decided to set their marriage, when Leila and Beth were working the bar and Ian was out helping Jeremy in his shop, a tall, gruff giant-of-a-stranger walked into the inn, muttering under his breath. Leila could just make out that he was stringing together a colorful line of swears at his apparently broken vehicle.

Beth raised an eyebrow at Leila, who nodded and addressed the man. "Hello, sir. Can I help you find anything?"

The man looked up from unbuttoning his coat and shook out his shaggy mane. Underneath, Leila recognized the clothing of a Hunter, though it was not quite vampire from the looks of him: she guessed it was werewolf. "Damn Were' ran my car off the road. I got the fucker, but at expense of my front iron… town wouldn't happen to have a good mechanics shop, would it?"

Beth had come up beside Leila and laid her hand on her friend's shoulder. "There's no shop, but Leila here happens to be one of the best mechanics there is."

The man surveyed the women and shrugged. "If this town has no mechanic, you're welcome to try it – can't get any worse – but keep in mind it's racked up pretty bad and I'd hate to see you getting all dirty."

Beth laughed and gestured at Leila. "Leila's best friend used to be her battle car. You should stick around after she fixes your car to hear her stories of her Hunter days. Makes for quite an exciting tale."

The man now turned to really survey Leila, looking far more impressed than he had looked a few seconds earlier. "What'd you hunt? Mist devils? Lesser dragons?" He paused at the non-responses he kept getting then, as though startled by the audacity of his own comment, suggested, "Weres?"

Without blinking or making any move to make it sound impressive, Leila answered, "Vampires."

She got a whistle in response then a blink of confusion. "Around here? Alone?"

"I'm a stranger to these parts too, traveler. My brothers died on our last mission out, and I found myself having to look for a different job." It still amazed her that she could say it without emotion, and it surprised Beth as well. The old Were-Hunter, however, just nodded, as though he wasn't expecting any different.

He started taking off his coat and stopped, as though remembering something, then stared at Leila with a hard gaze. "You human?" he asked.

Leila smiled and nodded. "My mother, she was killed…"

"Ah." The man winced, sitting down at the bar. "Just had to be sure, you know?"

Leila nodded, remembering that she had once held half-breeds in the same scorn before…

"They say there's a Hunter with incredible skill who can move faster than human eyes can see."

Leila sat up as though shocked.

"You heard of him?" asked the Were-Hunter. Behind the counter where she stood drying the glasses from lunch, Beth had a similar reaction.

Leila shrugged, picking out a glass and filling it.

"Say he's a dhampir, goes by the name of D."

"Yes, I know him. My brothers and him were competition our last mission." She set the glass down in front of him.

He grunted, picked up the mug and took a gulp. "Damn dhampirs. 'F it was up to me, I say kill 'em all."

Leila nodded absently.

"This is good beer, by the way," the Were-Hunter said, having forgotten all about his mention of dhampirs already.

Leila decided to do the same. "After you finish it, let's take a look at your car."

It ended up being a small problem, not much more than the daily wear and tear she had put on her battle car, and easy to fix. When all was said and done, she had it running again with the frame back in place in two hours tops. She even added a strengthening layer to the front so it could handle scrapes like this one and not stop running.

When she had it finished, the man insisted on paying her. "You should start a machine shop here in town," he explained. Beth agreed, and later that evening, once Ian and Jeremy had come in and after the old Were-Hunter had gone up, the plan was discussed. Jeremy and Ian would help her open a shop in the old inn barn. It would be up to her to fix it up and make it work, but she was itching to try her hand at her beloved hobby again. She would make it work.


	7. CM: Charlotte and Mayerling

A/N: Please R & R. Thanks.

* * *

In the spring, Charlotte started feeling nauseous and began eating more when they could get it. Mayerling noticed it – and the strange, intoxicating aroma and glow about her – and not without concern. He watched her, feeling that he didn't know enough about humans to decipher what was wrong and that if something were truly wrong, she would let him know. However, when no relief came and the strong perfume had firmly worked its way into his every waking thought, he had to throw down his normal rules regarding female privacy and ask her about it.

"Charlotte, my love, are you alright?" he said after having watched her for an hour that evening. Maybe it was the wrong question, for she certainly looked fine: her skin was glowing, her cheeks rosy in spite of the hard hours they pushed. But what had made him ask was her perplexing, distracted half-smile.

She pressed her hand against her belly and pulled out of her distraction to reassure him with her smile. What she said, however, froze his bones: "Mayerling, I'm going to have your child."

The smile on her face discouraged immediate action, so he fell silent, considering the implications of her words. "Darling, the child will be a dhampir…" he informed her softly.

Sadness seemed to cross Charlotte's face temporarily, for she knew as well as he did what this would mean for the baby and what it could mean; however they would always be running for place to place, and the world that Mayerling had grown up in was gone. She knew she would love the child, regardless of what he was, just as she loved the child's father. Perhaps with enough love the child would not end up like the attractive yet doomed individual who had spared them a year before. "Love, I would like to keep it."

Mayerling nodded, knowing and respecting his darling's decision. "We will keep it." Then he smiled, too, realizing they were going to have a baby to show their love for each other and to spoil as rotten as they could. They celebrated into the small hours of the early morning, dancing round and round in their joy.


	8. L: Setting Up Her Shop

A short distance from the butcher shop Jeremy owned was the inn's old barn that, now that Ian and Jeremy had built a new one closer to the inn itself, no one was using. The Sunday after Beth had approached Ian to ask if "her future sister-in-law" might have it for her mechanics shop, Jeremy and Ian went over with Leila to see what would have to be done to get it in working order.

Neither Ian nor Jeremy had ever been inside a mechanics shop and therefore had no idea what was or wasn't adequate. However, with her memory of her father's shop, Leila had more than enough knowledge for the construction. It turned out that very little needed to be done. The stables would provide a placed to park the cars that she would work on and with a little floor strengthening she figured she would be able to drive the cars on and off of the ramp she would build with no difficulty.

The main thing that needed to happen, she was able to say, was that the barn needed a cleaning. The task ended up being a village activity, to Leila's delight, as Ian had talked the town's schoolteacher into bringing over the village kids to help. One of the more mechanically inclined students came over on subsequent afternoons to help her build the ramp and strengthen the floor. His name was Maxwell Erikson and he was twelve years old and already a confident jokester with good reason to be assured in his mechanical ability. She paid a visit to the Eriksons, who assured her that their son would be overjoyed to have an apprenticeship in her shop. So Maxwell became her co-worker and garage man.

She began teaching him what she knew. He – an eager student – was quick to learn. So by the time their first job came in – a beat up generator from the local produce grocery – he knew almost as well as she did how to fix it. After that generator, machines came in on a regular basis, and were fixed and sent back to their owners in working order again. Leila's Mechanics began to earn a reputation in theirs and neighboring villages and, more importantly, it began to turn a profit.

In their spare time, Leila and Maxwell worked on separate plans to build a sister creation to the battle car. And slowly, as Leila's knowledge of nearby villages increased due as much to Maxwell's knowledge as to her own explorations, the winter began to thaw into spring.


	9. L: Leila and Jeremy Ryder

That spring seemed to be a world caught in a dream. The villagers by nowthought of Leila as their own and were overjoyed to see her marrying the polite, but previously melancholy and quiet, young man who had become talkative and warm in the few months since she had shown up. After work, they would trickle through the inn to wish the couple well. Everyone seemed to reflect their happiness. Even Beth went about her work, whistling to herself and was so happy for them that she announced one day that she was taking charge of the preparations, allowing the couple to enjoy their engagement.

Some evenings, Jeremy brought Leila flowers, having heard from Beth about her love of them. Two weeks after their engagement had started, he kissed her, and she felt something stir within her and found she loved him even more. Others, she would take him out at night to lie in the meadow and stare up at the stars. He had never done this before, as the villagers considered it too dangerous, and didn't know that the night sky was so beautiful. Leila was on guard for mist devils or other dangerous frontier creatures the whole time, but she didn't see anything worrying and was glad that Jeremy got to see what had become her first love after her battle car in her hunting days.

More often than not, however, they just shared little endearments and secrets with each other. By the evening before the wedding, both found they had healed.

Beth, meanwhile, had organized to have the seamstress from the nearest town come to the village and sew Leila's gown. She had arranged to have the gown have flower patterns covering it. The evening before the wedding, as the seamstress was finishing the final touches on the gown, Leila thanked Beth for doing so much. Beth answered that it wasn't every day that one's little brother married the woman of his dreams. Leila smiled at her and then the gown was finished. Beth looked it over and paid the seamstress. Once they were alone, Beth could barely suppress her giggles. When Leila asked what why, Beth explained that she had never seen a former vampire hunter in a dress. Then, she hugged her future sister-in-law and told her she was proud of her.

The whole village came out to see the wedding. All gave their blessings, with, as Beth had promised, quite a few jokes about the famous Vampire Hunter wearing a dress. It was a short ceremony, cut down to Leila receiving a kiss on the cheek from Beth and Ian before walking up to Jeremy.A vow to love each other until death did them part -simplebutno less powerful for its simplicity - brought many villagers to happy tears. After hearingher name pronounced Mrs. Leila Ryder there was a little party to wish the couple well.Children played tag as the couple, sitting on a bench in a garden of flowers, whispered sweet secrets to each other. Late afternoon, the villagers began to return to their houses, leaving Jeremy and Leila alone in the garden.

"You know, I always dreamed of a wedding like this. Never thought it would really happen, but here I am, married to the man I love, living a dream I have no idea what I did to deserve." Leila smiled at her husband.

"You did everything to deserve it. You've brightened our village and my heart and I thank you for it." He paused, gazing into her eyes. "My Leila, my beautiful Leila."

She laughed as he picked her up, clinging to him as he carried her home.


	10. CM: Dmitri

The child was born in early autumn, but his hair spoke of winter frost and was as soft as kitten fur.

His skin was pale linen, too, so that together, there could be no doubt of the vampire heritage in him. To his overjoyed parents, however, the paleness only served to clarify who he was not what: they had known for some time that he would be a dhampir and were prepared for it; however, the baby now lying in Charlotte's arms was, to them, nothing short of a miracle.

His hands, as the new mother curled them around her own, she found to be the same shape as Mayerling's wide yet graceful ones, already imparted with some of the soft yet penetrating touch that would permeate his actions in just over five years.

His mouth and jaw structure were Mayerling's too: that hard set perplexity intermingled with the surprising warmth of a smile and made her break into a smile as well. (That the child didn't yet possess the fangs Mayerling had insisted he later would pleased Charlotte to no end, as this meant she could nurse it for a few months.)

His nose, however, was Charlotte's long, slender one, and his eyes were hers through and through, including their more feminine width and pale brown color. (Both parents gasped when he opened these, as the color was nearly gold and as there was so much more of it than in human eyes: adding to their son's dazzling effect.)

He seemed to blink at them for a second, then began wailing. Charlotte took his soft little body and rocked him, and the child soon stopped and began rooting. After making sure he had found her breast, she looked up at Mayerling. "What should we name him, Mayerling?"

If Mayerling had been able to cry, tears of joy would have been streaming down his face at seeing the woman he loved holding his son.

"Dmitri…" he whispered, surprising himself as he had been too caught up in the image to really hear the question. He had given his grandfather's name, a good man as far as vampires of his day and age went whom the passing years had killed instead of a vampire hunter.

He smiled at the baby before applying the name again, this time with more confidence. "Dmitri. Let's name him Dmitri."


	11. L: Little Girl

A month after their wedding, Leila was able to declare to Jeremy that she was pregnant, at which Jeremy hugged her and whirled her around their room. Leila smiled at this and, in spite of the urge to be fearful as she would have been in her Hunter days, promised herself that this was the way it should be. Besides, she had always wanted a child to dress, cuddle, spoil and later teach.

Jeremy had not stopped his excited chatter. "We must name him Jaime. I've always wanted a little boy named Jaime, a little boy who can take over our shops. He'll be the talk of the town with all the skills we can teach him. Perhaps…" he seemed caught with a brilliant idea. "Oh, I know: perhaps you can teach him a few Hunter skills, not so he can use them of course – we don't want our son risking his life – but just a few so he can impress our neighbors? Please?"

Leila was at this point almost in tears she was trying so hard not to laugh at the image he struck in his excitement, confirming the nickname she had given him after their marriage. "Puppy!" She pet his hair as he once more picked her up, ear to her belly as if to hear the baby. "Puppy, what if it's a girl?"

Jeremy stopped spinning her around but kept his arms around her waist, face still showing excitement and joy. She was pleased, even more so when he said, "Doesn't matter. But I never thought it might be a girl. What should we name her if she is?"

"Lily," was Leila's immediate answer. She had always wanted a little girl named Lily, and was overjoyed at the prospect that she now had the opportunity to name a child Lily, her child, her very own little baby. "Whatever it is, it's going to be spoiled rotten, right?" Leila grinned back at Jeremy.

Jeremy picked her up again and continued his excited spin. "Yes, ma'am. Spoiled pure rotten." He paused and said, "If it's a girl, she'll be named Lily and never wear dresses and drive around in her mother's crazy invention of a car and be a little imp!"

Leila shook her head. "No! I always wanted her to wear dresses!"

Jeremy laughed. "They'd get in the way of her zooming around in that car."

"Then I'll make one for dresses."

Jeremy stopped spinning and hugged her tighter. "You know, I like the idea of having a girl."


	12. CM: Dhampir Baby

A/N: Again with the book-based. Mashira, though an honorable werewolf in _Bloodlust_, is a creature more like Left Hand – except that the creature possesses who it is in – in _Demon Deathchase_ and is far less than honorable. Also, I'm having Dmitri be born dhampir – instead of having his dhampir characteristics awaken when he is a teenager – because it fits better with the story. Remember water, as well (the Marcus brothers plan on killing D after forcing him into a river because they assume he will be paralyzed). I think that covers everything.

* * *

There was one thing Charlotte and Mayerling had never considered, and the problem was not related to Dmitri being dhampir but merely being a baby: as soon as he began teething he howled non-stop. After three quarters of a year of happy parenting, Charlotte and Mayerling found they could not get near any villages.

This did not provide a direct difficulty for the small dhampir or for Mayerling; however, for Charlotte, it did. As a human, she could not travel the distance from where Mayerling and Dmitri were to a given village alone at night – there were many creatures that vampire power did not sway, as she did not want to rediscover (having already discovered it with the creature called Mashira) – and traveling the same distance during the day (when the townsfolk would think at best that she was insane and would trap her within the village) was out of the question.

There was one way to get Dmitri into a state of sleep that the loving parents didn't shiver at, as a tearful Charlotte found out one night when she and Mayerling at their wits end with Dmitri's crying. Mayerling had even suggested bathing the child one evening, but Charlotte had protested, the two ending the night in an argument about her own health verses as it was now beginning to seem the baby's. That had been the evening previous to the discovery. In desperation the following evening, she picked up the screaming child and held him close with his face tucked against her chest, and for the first time in several months, there was silence. Mayerling met her eyes: somehow, this had to bode well for the trio.

The following evening, Dmitri tucked under Charlotte's chin, Mayerling guided the carriage to the edge of a village, and together, they were able to gather food from one of the farms, and Mayerling was able to refill the blood tanks with cattle blood. The baby stayed quiet until they were back on the road.

This seemed to work for a while. They dealt with the dhampir issues as they came along. More often than not, a dismayed Charlotte would approach Mayerling with a supposed reason to worry (once Dmitri had been playing on her lap and the next second she had had to catch him to keep him from sliding to the floor, unconscious.) He would check over his son and tell her what part of dhampir condition had caused it (in the case in question the condition was sunlight syndrome and he wrote the date down so that the boy would know how long in between the attacks).

Amid all this, the baby was growing, and Charlotte wrote down all the information about his baby firsts as Mayerling watched in wonder. Originally, she had wanted to write it down on the same sheets as his dhampir information was on, but Mayerling managed to convince her that though very interesting and fun, the information on when he had grown in his first tooth was not as likely to save him as the knowledge when he was going to fall unconscious for days on end.

The now-toddler awoke three days after falling unconscious with the word "Dada" on his tongue. Charlotte accepted Mayerling concern about keeping the records of necessary verses sentimental information separate, and Mayerling found himself wanting to do just the opposite, overjoyed as he was the their child was starting to talk. It was because of this that Charlotte would remember that his first sunlight syndrome attack wasshortly afterhis first birthday and that it was six months in between them, and that Mayerling would remember that he said his first word a year and a month after his birth.


	13. L: Lily the Mechanic's Daughter

Lily was born one bright March day with ten little fingers, ten little toes, a head of strawberry gold hair, a love of overalls and metal and a hatred of the dresses Leila tried to put her in.

Leila found very early on in her mothering that she didn't know any lullabies. In fact, the only songs she knew were the ones her brother's had made up added to the ones they heard on the hunt. None of them, she guessed, was appropriate to sing to a child. She knew her memory was playing tricks with her, for she had once learned some to sing to a younger cousin. However, try as she might, she couldn't remember them.

One day a week after giving birth to Lily – an appropriate amount of time, she reasoned, for the others to believe her hunter-trained body had healed (She felt ready to set to work again within the hour but was certain no one would believe her.) – she asked Beth about lullabies. The older woman chuckled at her – "No, I don't suppose you would know any, would you?" – but had taken the child into her arms and showed the new mother how to rock her and had even taught her one or two lullabies. It was all in vain though: the moment the baby had left her mother's arms, she began howling. At the end of the lullaby session when Beth placed the child back into Leila's arms, only then did she go back to sleep.

Beth brought Leila a baby sling on her request to the doctor to leave the village hospital, explaining to Leila that then she could carry Lily around with her. The following day, she and Jeremy dressed their screaming baby in a little floral print dress, to Jeremy's insistence of "Like mother, like daughter." Leila slapped his back with one of Lily's clean diapers, causing him to whistle in pain, before she tucked her daughter into the sling and left for the garage.

Hearing their approach, Maxwell climbed down from the loft they'd affectionately nicknamed their "design room," though by the time they entered, Lily was quiet again. "Wow! What's her name?" Maxwell asked, staring down into her big brown eyes.

"Her name's Lily." Leila leaned over so he could see her better.

"Can I hold her?" he asked.

After a week of not building, Leila was ready for him to do just that. She trusted Maxwell with her daughter and ran up the ladder into the design room, spreading out her own design for the miniature car and proceeding to fix a sheet of cast-off metal she'd found in a town junkyard into a floorboard. Maxwell, sitting out of the way, explained what she was using to build the car to Lily, who quietly watched some of the proceedings before falling asleep.

That was the only place she would wear a dress without howling. After Leila found this out, she brought the baby to her job with her daily, where Maxwell would fawn over the little girl, showing her the pieces of machinery her mother was using and telling her what they were called. This was why, by the time she learned to walk, Lily knew the uses of most of the tools in the garage. It was also why her first words were "Puppy", "Mommy", "Max" and "car". Her next few words were "metal", "Aunt Bee", "Uncle E", "Chris," "wrench," "hammer," "garage" and "build". The following week, under Max's watch, she learned the phrase "Give me" and also "idea!" followed very quickly by an "Ouch!" said without tears.

The next week, Leila decided to take her to a junkyard field in a neighboring town. She told Jeremy in the no-nonsense tone she used to reserve for her brothers where she was going, and that she was taking Lily along. Jeremy raised an eyebrow at the tone and didn't protest.

So, bright and early the following morning, Leila set out with Maxwell and Lily. For once Leila had given up on having the girl wear a dress and had clothed her in a coverall much like the ones she had once enjoyed, and the toddler was giggling as her mother bounced her on her hip. Maxwell was skipping with excitement, too, never having gone out of his village before and feeling that this opportunity made him very grown up.

They arrived at the junkyard at noon and spent until five that evening rummaging through the junkyard, Leila teaching both Maxwell and Lily about what the "junk" had once been. She didn't say this aloud, but the finds were disappointing. If she had been alone, she would have thrown the catch back and searched for other streams. However, with two children in tow, she had to put up with what was here.

At five, it got dark enough for Maxwell to get jumpy. They were after all, not in the cover of a village, and the boy had been taught all his life that it was suicide to remain outside after dark. He had heard Leila's tales and wanted desperately to believe them, but this was pushing his belief. Having watched the sun set, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Mrs. Leila!" He ran towards her. "We should check into the town inn soon, shouldn't we?"

Leila looked up from the pile she and her daughter had made in the cart they had brought and looked at the boy. "It's time to head back."

Maxwell blinked in confusion. "Wait! You mean we're not staying in the town?"

Leila chuckled, shaking her head. "Max, I was Leila Marcus, Vampire Hunter, and there's nothing in these parts that could get through me to you. I was planning to stay for another hour, then head home, but if you want to go now, I'll come back in a month or so. You wanna leave?"

Maxwell nodded, impressed by her nonchalance even in the face of night. They headed out, and though Leila was on alert the whole distance home, not even a mist devil attacked them. The lack of even typical night creatures made her jumpy. The past three year without fighting had made her bored, though this leisurely walk home was the first time she could admit it. She needed something to happen and began wondering what had become of the lone, famed Hunter, D.


	14. CM: An Unwilling Hunter

Please tell me what you think about the story so far!

* * *

When Dmitri took his first steps at a year and three months, both parents were more than a little nervous that he would wander away from the carriage or that he might wake some of the villagers when Charlotte went to go get food. They created little games to award him for being quiet and watchful. But they needn't have worried. What finally caught them was not their son, but a village in need of a hunter. 

Dmitri was on watch shortlyafter his second birthday as Charlotte and Mayerling were raiding a village farm in search of food, when suddenly, Dmitri's young voice rang out with an alarm, "Daddy! There are people!" Then Charlotte and Mayerling both found themselves with arrows aimed at them from all sides. The boy ran through the people's legs to hide behind his mother's skirt.

"Dmitri, don't make a sound!" she ordered him, picking him up and tucking his head under her chin as she had done of old, then covering him with her arms, as if by making as little of him show as possible, the villagers would forget he was there.

Mayerling meanwhile stood meeting each villager's eyes with a command that they not harm his wife or his son.

"I dare you to say that you aren't the vampire who drank from my dear Rachel!" came an angry voice from somewhere in the second row of people.

Mayerling straightened up and stared at where the voice had come from. "I am not."

There were gasps from many of the villagers, who reapplied their threatening arrows to Charlotte and Dmitri. "Mommy!" came the frightened boy's cry.

"Don't look, honey," Charlotte told her son.

Mayerling, seeing that the arrows were not yet removed from his son and recalling the vampire family that in his childhood had ruled the area, figured that he knew the vampire who was now ruling and surprised himself by saying, "But I can help you find the one who did."

The man who had previously spoken slipped through, lip twitching as he surveyed Charlotte, then turned back to Mayerling. "Will you?"

Mayerling nodded, thinking that this was the only way to free hCharlotte and Dmitri. "Yes. For the life of my wife and child and for their safe passage through this area, after which you will never see us again, yes, I will."

It was only after they had removed the arrows threatening his wife and son that Mayerling felt vaguely sick at what he had agreed to do.

"Mayerling," Charlotte hugged him after they were situated in relative comfort in a room in the inn. She was trying to be brave – he knew, for he was to – and was succeeding rather well. The villagers had taken their son as ransom. If he should fail to kill the vampire – or, he figured they also meant, if he should drink from any of the villagers – the townsfolk had promised they would kill the boy. That is why he had to do this, however much he wanted to leave the arrogant vampire, whom he had avoided at parties the other family held – though he had only been a few years younger and everyone had expected him to admire and emulate the older vampire – alone. He had to save his son!

He counted out the weapons he had laid out on the bed, trying to look like he knew what he was doing for Charlotte's sake, though in reality he was floundering in the proverbial dark, with no idea what a hunter used. "Shit," he whispered the swear under his breath, returning her hug.

"My dear Mayerling, are you sure you're alright doing this?" she asked.

He picked up a dagger and threw it at the wall before stopping to think, then gazed back at his darling as if to apologize. "They've got our son in their mayor's house: I must be alright with it, and it must be done sooner rather than later."

Charlotte smiled up at him. "But, you said… do you know the vampire who… the vampire who lives here?"

Mayerling turned in time to see Charlotte's face flush and smiled at her attempts not to hurt him with her speech. "Charlotte, there is no need to be cautious. My family knew his family, which is to say we went to grand parties in the castle we are near. The vampire who gave this poor village such a fright is, it's true, close to my age, but I avoided him based on his distasteful treatment of the surrounding villages. After our family passed on, we never attempted to heal this breach, and he grew steadily nastier. If he should end by my hand, it would not greatly upset me. What matters is that it will get our son returned safely and will allow us passage through this land."

Charlotte nodded. "Yes…" Then something seemed to trouble her. "But if he is older than you…?" she started.

Mayerling smiled at her. "I have not whiled away my training hours terrorizing humans, unlike him. This puts me at the advantage."

She hugged him again. "Are you setting out tonight?"

He shook his head. "I am going to sit outside the room where his victim is, as a doctor stands guard within. It is his style to drink only enough to put the human in comatose and to fetch her the following night."

"Be careful," she warned.

So he sat, wearing his full weaponry without feeling foolish as when he had had to in the past, outside the room where the girl named Rachel dwelt. The hall was silent, with lock on many of the door leading out to it. He knew that inside many of them, there was the protection of garlic powder, but he wasn't planning to enter any of the rooms, so the powder wouldn't bother him.

He didn't need to wait long. At approximately two hours after sunset, he felt the chill in the air that accompanied mist ability, one of Yaneth's – that was the vampire's given name – favorite little tricks and one their teacher had frowned upon when Yaneth used it. "Still up to your foolish tricks, I see."

The vampire stopped, pulling himself out of the mist in surprised. "Mayerling!" Yaneth used his family name as he undoubtedly would have had Mayerling use with him. The new Hunter had always refused to call him anything but more proper than Yaneth, and the habit was not going to change now. "What are you doing here?" Yaneth saw what the younger vampire was wearing, and a look of bemused delight crossed his face. "And in full dress uniform? Really, Mayerling, one would think you meant to attend a formal event!"

Mayerling shrugged, reminded again why he had never liked this brat. "I graduated from weapons class. Just felt like reminiscing on old times. Though, as I think about it, _you_ were not there, were you? You were off terrorizing a village as you seem to be doing yet again."

Yaneth sneered at him for a second, eyes dancing at the prospect of what he was hearing. "What are humans good for if not terrorizing? You can't possibly have gone that daft as to be defending them!"

Mayerling drew his sword. "I have a wife now, Yaneth… a human wife, and with her I have a son."

Yaneth gave a full sneer. "A _dhampir_? So you went _Hunter_ to _save_ them?" He laughed at the very idea. "Well then! It always _was_ my opinion that you didn't deserve the family name, and this confirms it, but if you want to fight… _en gard_e!" Out came Yaneth's family sword, a better sword by far than Mayerling's but with, Mayerling hoped, a worse wielder. "Let's see how you fair against one who hasn't let his abilities fall to waste!" He swung at Mayerling.

Mayerling danced back, exhilarated at the idea of sword fighting again, only this time for life instead of just a hit. "Big words from one who didn't bother to go to Zander's class!" he taunted back almost catching his opponent in an empty spot their teacher, Zander, would have beaten him for leaving open.

"Ha!" Yaneth challenged, cutting off his thrust at the last second. "I was too busy learning real talents to play kiddie games of manners!"

"Were you really that busy, Yaneth, or is that just the excuse you did not have us fooled with?" Yaneth was not making any effort to get through yet, and this pleased Mayerling, for it meant his foe was underestimating him. Whether this was because he thought Mayerling the weaker swordsman or because he thought that Mayerling would not kill one of his own kind, it meant that, at least for the time being, the younger vampire had the upper hand.

"You know what your problem always was? You always were too much of an ass-kisser! And now look at you: you're kissing _humans'_ asses for them!"

Mayerling lunged at his foe, thinking he saw an opening.

Yaneth batted him away, laughing. "That struck a nerve in you, didn't it, old boy?"

Mayerling caught his sleeve, slicing it from the inside of the elbow to armpit. The sleeve fell away to reveal blood.

"Damn you!" Yaneth spat.

It was Mayerling's turn to laugh. "Who struck a nerve now?"

The older vampire did something Mayerling had never seen before: he switched his sword hand and caught Mayerling's blade through the hand that had held his sword. The blade sunk in up to the hilt, causing Yaneth to grimace and Mayerling to be too shocked to think. Then Yaneth grab one of Mayerling's daggers and jammed it into his side between his ribs.

Mayerling fell against the wall, gasping at the speed of the move. Yaneth was not joking now and came closing in for the kill… the younger vampire ducked as the sword swung for his head, then kneed his opponent in the groin, gaining him the required second in which to rip his own sword sideways out of Yaneth's hand and cut of the older vampire's head. Then, he spun a full rotation and sheathed the bloodied sword through Yaneth's chest.

The sword hit its mark: within an instant the body in front of his misted, and not by any choice of its owner. Within another second, the sword clattered to the ground, all that was left.

Within the room, Mayerling heard the girl, Rachel, awaken to cries of "Sister! Sister! You're all right!" followed by a man's voice saying, "Thank the stars!"

Mayerling tried to stand up but remembered that his dagger was still in his side when a spasm of pain ran up his side.

"That vampire killed the other vampire then?" came another voice from inside.

"Radio over to the jail. Get him his son back," the first voice said.

"Yes, sir." The door opened, followed by a man in his mid-twenties jumping a foot high.

"You're the… the vampire our town hired to… to hunt for it?"

Mayerling nodded.

"Did you get it?" his voice fused with a deep-seated hatred.

He held out Yaneth's sword. "This was his sword, and the girl is awake now, and safe. Now go get me my son."

The man ran at the command, and in his absence, Mayerling managed to reach the dagger and pull it out. It healed, but the wound left him staggering.

But then a little mousy-haired girl wandered past the door, warily at first but still approaching him. "My sister's awake now. You saved her. Come and see!"

And she led him into the room where the doctor was checking the girl, Rachel's, vitals. Her color was returning to her freckled face, lighting her skin a rosy pink. "Good to see that you are okay." He said, then left, lest she or the doctor get to nervous about his presence. And besides, then the man was back, saying that they had released his son, so he staggered along to see the little boy once more.


	15. L: Scars

"What's this one from?" Jeremy asked, pointing to one of her scars.

Leila rolled over to check, which one he was pointing at in their favorite nighttime game now that little Lily was able to sleep through the night. "Oh, that one," she laughed, realizing that the one he was pointing to wasn't from hunting at all. "That one's from my early days with my car, back when I wasn't too good with motors, you know? Well, I was racing the highway near town when the motor ups and dies on me, throwing me like an angry horse and throwing something hard. Kyle carried me back home soon as he saw what'd happened." It had left her a nice scar right below her right shoulder blade, teaching her she still had a lot to learn about motors.

He picked her up and turned her to face him. "And what about this one?" He pointed at the one above her left breast.

"Hey, Puppy!" she snuggled next to him, "I think that's deviating from the normal game. Only one a night, 'member?"

Jeremy nodded and hugged her close, and she leaned up and kissed him, loving their other nighttime pastime and eager to get away from _that_ scar. After three years, she still couldn't understand why D had saved her life like that, and, though he had asked before about _that_ scar, she wasn't about to tell how she had gotten it.

Late that night, as unable to sleep more than three hours per go as she'd always been – a habit from her hunter days that she knew would never change – she got up and stood at their window, staring up at the moon and fingering the skin around _that_ scar.

* * *

A/N: A little help. A)Should Mayerling have to kill a vampire who was once his friend andrefuse to continue hunting, should Charlotte and Mayerling see Dmitri watching other kids play, or should Mayerling and Charlotte decide that they don't want their son to be a hunter? and B) should I have Dmitri arrive at Leila's through D or through Mayerling's carriage needing repairs? Please tell me! 


	16. CM: The Next Job

Next job over was in a small village. The victims were the mayor's daughter – a sweet, little, carefree thing of about ten years – and the doctor's fiancée. Mayerling did not know the vampire – he was young, stupid, barbarous, made after the days when the great houses had started disappearing out of their own ennui – Mayerling did not mind killing the disgusting creature.

Charlotte insisted on following him on hearing that the vampire was an easy target. He was surprised but decided to grant her wish, as he could then teach her some defense skills. They left Dmitri with the mayor and his wife, the village schoolteacher who played with him on her lap as if he was her own. Mayerling glanced back at the boy to see him leaning against the woman's chest, playing with her graying curls, an expression on his face that showed he could tell she was upset and wanted to cheer her up. More than anything, however, the expression said he felt safe.

A blip too vague to even be a thought ran across Mayerling's mind. "Charlotte," he leaned over to her as the two rode on their cyborg horses towards the doctor's house where the two victims resided. She brought her horse up beside his. "Charlotte, look at him back there."

She did, and her expression softened. "He looks so… happy."

The two of them stood watching their son until Mayerling said, "Come. We have a job to do."

* * *

"Always stab through the heart or cut off your opponent's head. Anything else doesn't count."

She nodded to show she understood, touching the next knife over. "And this one?"

"The poison on it will do a number on any vampire except the most powerful ones. On _made_ ones – ones like this one – it should slow them down enough so that even a child could pierce their heart…" He left off, deciding something then. "I will stick him with it. Then, you can use my sword to pierce his heart, if you want to."

She stared at him, unblinking for such a long time that he found it unnerving, having gotten use to her blinks.

"It is your choice. I will not force you either way." He began to put on the knife belt.

"No. I want to learn. That is what this is about, isn't it?"

He took the sword he had acquired in his fight against Yaneth and held it out to her. "Only if you want it," he repeated.

She placed her hand over his and took the sword and its belt, nodding, wide-eyed and determined at the same time. He looked at her expression and felt a chill run down his spine.

* * *

She did as he had told her when the vampire came to feed on his victims again, and he sighed with relief that it went so smoothly. She sat on the bed, staring off into space as they listened to the joyful thanks the doctor gave as he hugged his fiancée then tended to the little girl. Mayerling went over and sat beside her, pulling his wife close beside him. "How are you?" he asked the human phrase.

She turned to him, smiling at his effort to use the strange words. "I'm fine, Mayerling."

* * *

The following evening, they were surprised when the mayor paid them, eying Mayerling with no small desire that the family head off as soon as possible. Mayerling nodded at him and hinted that they were ready to leave. The mayor looked relieved at this. Now it, was time to get their son. The little girl they had saved was playing tag with her friends and Dmitri. "Look at him, Mayerling," Charlotte pointed him out.

"I see what you see, Charlotte." Even after they had collected him to set out for their next job, neither of them brought up the question running through their minds: _What should be done about it?_


	17. CM: Hunters' Decision

"Mommy," Dmitri said as soon as the carriage was underway, "I like those kids – the ones I was, I was playing with. They nice."

Mayerling turned to his wife, who sat with Yaneth's sword still across her lap, staring ahead as though lost in thought. He frowned and picked his son up onto his lap. "I know, son. You looked like you were having fun playing with them."

"I was, Daddy." Dmitri glanced at his mother then turned to Mayerling. "What's wrong with Mommy?"

"Shh. She's fine, Dmitri. Just leave her alone for a while." Mayerling hugged his son. He guessed that what was wrong was one of two things: either she was thinking about what to do about their son or about her first hunt if it had caught up to her. Either way, he would have a talk with her about it that evening.

* * *

"Mayerling," she addressed him in the predawn hours that morning, after they had curled up together for the day. "We need hunting supplies if we are to be Hunters." 

He froze but recovered quickly. "Dear, I thought that we were just hunting so we could get food and free passage. We don't need hunting supplies for that."

She was silent so long he thought she had drifted off to sleep. "But what if we have to face a powerful vampire?"

Now it was his turn to be silent. "Fine. Let us stopandobtain hunting supplies."

* * *

When Mayerling awoke that night, Charlotte had a wide array of weapons resting against the walls of the carriage. He blinked around the cabin in confusion then asked, "Is all this necessary?" 

Charlotte looked around the cabin with a little frown on her face, and Mayerling realized she didn't think so either. "I didn't know what we would need." As he sat up, she came to sit on his lap, holding a book-like object in both hands.

He smiled when he saw it. "_That_," he pointed to it, "Is helpful."

She handed it to him. "Do you know what it does?"

He ran a hand across the cover, and it opened. "It's rare that one of these leaves its owner. We used to have them all over the castle. Most hunters have them, but most of them gain them from their prey." He had been hitting buttons on the object, and it finally came to life with a whirr. He turned it to show her. "See. The hunters who have them use them to find out about jobs. It is called a computer. Now take it up to the front of the carriage and tell me where our son is."

"We're just outside of a town. I thought…" she looked away, "I thought it best to let him go play with some of the town children."

He caught her face and ran a thumb down her jawbone. "What troubling you, darling?"

She kissed his hand and held it against her cheek. "I don't want him to see this stuff. That Hunter, D, he seemed so lonely, so cold… I don't want that life for Dmitri, and I don't want him getting any ideas from us – ."

He kissed her cheek as she rubbed his. "If he stays with us, he is bound to be a Hunter."

She turned away. "But who could we trust with him?" she asked. He rubbed his chin, thinking, then reached onto the table where she had put the computer and tapped a few keys. While he did this, she tried to sort out an answer. "I love him. I don't want anything bad to happen to him because of who he is. Do you think the Barbaroi-?" She shuddered. "But I still don't trust them. We could stop at my aunt's, but no, she would fear him too much, if only because he is an outsider."

He stopped typing and now sat running a hand down the screen. She noticed. "What are you thinking?" she peered at him.

He turned the computer towards her. "Here." He gestured at the screen. "They are asking for the best Hunters on this one."

She frowned. "You think D…"

"No. That would doom him to a Hunter's life more than living with us would. No. Do you remember the woman Hunter? The one who took more than a casual liking to D?"

She nodded. "You don't think she is hunting anymore…"

"Her brothers died chasing us. And she let us go, knowingly," he explained.

Her eyes brightened. "You think her liking for D has softened her."

"Yes. And I think D could deliver Dmitri to her for a price or, at the least, tell us where she is."

She looked away. "And this must be done? Could we not settle in a little cottage somewhere and raise him ourselves?"

He gave her a wistful frown. "Are you certain you are not having second thoughts?"

She hugged him. "No. But if we must live this way, the least we can do is to make sure our little one doesn't."

He stared off into the distance, determined not to look at the place where the top-Hunter job was. "That only leaves one problem."

She looked surprised. "What is it?"

He took a deep breath to steady his nerves: _incredible how quick little human gestures were to catch on_. "I used to admire the vampire in the area of this job as an uncle."

She was still staring at him, an expression of sympathy on her face, when he turned to meet her eyes. She was the first to speak. "Can we not use the… computer… to talk to D without this hunt?"

He hugged her against his chest. "My kind, Charlotte… it is upsetting that so many either go mad or disappear." He pressed his eyebrows in his pause. When he spoke again, he sounded more determined. "If he has… _done something_ so egregious as to have a hunt after him… our last meeting, he confided that he would rather die than kill and that it would be just to kill him at that point… however, it pains me to know that he has fallen so far..."

She reached up to wind her fingers through his hair. "You won't fall, my love. You have me to hold you up."

He kissed her cheek. "Yes, darling."


End file.
